Down the Lachlan years ago

Although I can't attest to the veracity of the information, I read somewhere that the story was referring to one John Clancy who was at times a shearer, butcher and apparently a primary school teacher at Booligal and Forbes etc.

He addressed the letter to "Clancy, of the Overflow". And the poem was published in 1889.

During the writings of Patterson from 1885 to 1900, there was only one significant flood of the Lachlan reported, which was in 1891. The main town affected was Condobolin. As this was almost 2 years after the poem it is doubtful it was Condobolin.

The next most likely place would be Cowra which is a known "overflow" area when the Lachlan floods and joins the Murray Darling basin. But at a guess, I would suggest he was talking about the place where the Lachlan meets the Murrumbidgee as both these rivers must flood, or if you like "overflow" at the same time for the Lachlan to join the Murray Darling, which would put the location somewhere around Gunning.

As The Banjo says "down the Lachlan" not up, my money is on Gunning...If it ever really happened and is not just a poem.

An interesting sidelight to all this. In 1893 an engineer designed a scheme using the Snowy river that would send water along a channel from the dam he proposed. This was to be fed into Lake George and then from there into the upper reaches of the Lachlan, near gunning.

Gidday

Clancy moved about a bit. In the original poem he has gone droving in Queensland and a Couple of years later he bobs up in The Man from Snowy River.

This thread brings back some memories. My late father was a Paterson fan and could often drop a line of his into the conversation. Might have to look up some later.

Cheers

My father who was a Banjo lover told me that this was a meeting at Booligal.
Which was and still is a part of the long paddock .

interesting post
after a bit of a google search myself i have come up with thomas gerald clancy who worked on a shheep station named the overflow 32ks south east of nymagee. thomas clancy even published a poem in reply to clancy of the overflow about the overflow and droving but there was no mention of the mountains around the snowy river.
there is a lot on google if you search " was clancy of the overflow real"

As I heard it from the current generation of Clancys, Banjo was a good friend of James and Julia Clancy of Hay. He spent a lot of time with them and also other members of the Clancy family who lived on the upper Murrumbidgee and soaked up a lot of their yarns about shearing, droving and their adventurous lives which took in most of the country from the Snowy Mountains up to the Channel Country. It is thought that this exposure to the Clancy family exploits influenced "Clancy of the Overflow" (which was published in 1889)rather than any particular family member. However, he often followed young Peter Clancy's riding at the picnic races. Peter was the grandson of James and Julia. A decade later Banjo was a war correspondent at the Boer War at the same time as Peter was fighting there. Peter was killed at Zandfontein in September 1900. He is included on the Boer War Memorial in Hay.

The family see "Clancy" as a composite character but perhaps the daring nature of Peter had the strongest influence.

Just as an interesting aside, Peter's brother William also fought in the Boer War as part of the Hay contingent but after surviving that joined the NSW Marine Light Infantry contingent sent to China to fight the Boxer Rebellion. He did not return and is buried in Manchuria.

"...... As the stock are slowly stringing, Clancy rides behind them singing,

For the drover's life has pleasures that the townsfolk never know.

And the bush has friends to meet him, and their kindly voices greet him

In the murmur of the breezes and the river on its bars,

And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended,

And at night the wondrous glory of the everlasting stars....."

Thanks John for getting me to look up the words of my favourite Australian poem.

I used to do some work out at Hillston when I lived in Canberra and I enjoyed driving home along the Lachlan valley. As noted above, the headwaters are near Gunning, a short distance from where I lived. Booligal, Hillston, Lake Cargellico, Condobolin, Forbes, and Cowra are all worth visiting. Sadly, Wyangala Dam had been left as a rubbish dump by thoughtless boaters. Even now, when I drive from Echuca to Canberra, I sometimes go the "long way" when I have the time (Echuca, Deni, Hay, Booligal, Hillston etc) I just hate driving the Hume Freeway.

Bob

Hello John
I live near the bottom of the Lachlan river ,and also have Murrumbidgee river frontage , one of only 3 propeties to have frontage to both rivers .The area is known as the Great Cumbung Swamp [ to the locals it is the reedbeds ] , it is one of only 5 iconic wetlands in NSW and one of 18 noted sites on the Murray-Darling basin register [ there are 3 such sites at and below Booligal ].This area is fairly flat with very little fall in the river and so the water spreads out across an area that is treeless [ hence the reedbeds , which are fragmites and are good forage for cattle particulary over summer months and was the area that James Tyson settled in 1846 and was the beginning of his pastoral empire ] , when this area fills the water flows through redgum forests where it flows into the Murrumbidgee river through a number of small channels not far upstream of Redbank Weir , this does not happen on a regular basis , lately have been eg 1952 , 1956-1957 , 1973-1974 , 1990 , 2010 , without the times prior to 1952 .
The Lachlan is not navigable below Oxley which is not far above the reedbeds , due to insteam hazards and very difficult above Oxley and only in times of high flow .The wool from Tupra [300,000 sheep ] was shipped overland to Tupra Landing on the Murrumbidgee river and then loaded onto paddlesteamers and barges for transport to Echuca and other destinations
Mick C

John
The roads from the headwaters to the end are okay for two wheel drive vehicles , when you get to Lake Cargellico stay on the south side and visit Lake Brewster and view enhanced wetllands , go west to Kidman Way , go north along Kidman Way crossing the river and immediatly turn east and go up to Willandra creek and offtake regulator [ Willandra creek was the original course of the Lachlan and supplied water to Lake Mungo and its enviromens until changes in the land surface caused the water to take a different path 20,000 to 30,000 tears ago ] return to Kidman Way cross the river and immediatly turn west and go to Hillston on the river road ,from there go to Booligal on south side of river about 35-40kms along will be Wheelbah bridge , from Booligal head south on Cobb hwy to One Tree [ 35-40kms ] turn west crossing the river at Thelangarin/Corrong head west till T-piece then turnsouth west till you get to another T-piece turn south and you will get to Oxley
If you want send me a member message
Mick C